What Are The Benefits of Using a Real Estate Agent?

In the hot market of years past, I used to hear this question frequently. Today, not so often, but it still comes up.

The number one reason for hiring a real estate agent is market exposure. If you’re selling your home yourself, you’re marketing to a limited audience. If you have a sign in front of your house, you’re limited to reaching the people who drive by. Even an ad in the local paper reaches a limited market. The way to ensure the highest and best price for your property is to expose it to every single person out there looking for a property—and that’s done through primarily the Internet, direct mailings, print advertising, the Coldwell Banker network and agent networking (marketing to agents). When you factor in what you save versus what you might be losing, you’re better off using a real estate agent. Consider this question: Have you made more money in your life, or saved more? It’s the same in real estate. The bottom line is not whether you save the commission, but what you net at the end of the transaction. I recently watched an owner sell his own house. He was determined to save the commission, and he did—but he sold his house for $85,000 under the most recently sold comparable homes! In the end, he lost much more than he saved. The National Association of Realtors found that agents can sell houses for 27 percent more than people selling themselves. And today in our California market, the disclosure laws have become so burdensome that a person selling his or her home without full knowledge of disclosure requirements could leave themselves exposed to legal action. You’re far better protected if you have a real estate agent who knows the ins and outs of the law and can expose your home to the broadest possible market. I could go on about this topic, but for now, this is enough. I will write more on this from time to time.